The present invention relates to high reactive power, tubular ceramic capacitors. It relates more specifically to the cooling system and the connector whose internal contacts cooperate to provide a better distribution of the heat given off by the capacitor in order to eliminate it more regularly, which leads to a factor between 2 and 10 of the admissible reactive power and the voltage applied.
High power capacitors are generally used without any special protection, an external coating of enamel or varnish being sufficient to ensure completely satisfactory operation under normal conditions of use. The removal of the heat produced during energizing can be effected by natural convection. The admissible reactive power is limited to a few hundred reactive kilovolt-amperes.
The reactive power limitation on the use of a ceramic capacitor is due to the heating caused by the losses in the dielectric and, at higher frequencies above 1 megahertz, to losses by the Joule effect in the connections and foils. It is therefore important to limit the heating of the complete capacitor to a temperature on this side of the thermal casing threshold, i.e. 90.degree. C.
To keep the dielectric temperature to a value compatible with its possibilities it is conventional procedure to remove the heat by circulating water within the capacitor.